While each book in the series follows a different couple, the common thread that ties all of them together is the Willoughby Inn itself, and of course, Walter Moolen’s tragic literary tale. I’ve toyed with the idea of writing Walter’s story- Jackson and Camilla captured the hearts of generations of people in this world, though, and I have to admit that feels a bit intimidating. 🙂 That won’t stop me if I put my mind too it, but I also have to wrap my brain around telling a romance tale that we all know doesn’t have an HEA.

So instead, for the time being, I’ll be focusing on other characters that we meet through the course of the other stories, and rest assured, the character of the Willoughby Inn will always be featured.

In Grounded By You, we meet Sam’s spunky, down to earth co-star Delaney Rose. Delaney will be the featured heroine in the 3rd book of the series- although her story is going to be a bit darker than Reed & Kate’s or Sam and Millie’s. It will take place a couple of years after the events in Grounded By You, and when we see Delaney again, she’s going to be quite jaded by the dark underbelly of Hollywood- for a very good reason. But she’ll meet someone who will help her see that there is life (and love) beyond the cameras and fame. Essentially, bringing her back to the person that she was before starring in Where My Heart Breaks changed her life forever.

The fourth book in the series is going to take us back to the Willoughby Inn and begin to explore the life of Walter Moolen through the eyes of his grand-daughter, Liza. You might recall there was a casual mention that the movie version of Where My Heart Breaks had been stalled for years because of a fight over the rights to the story. Liza is going to come face to face with her arch-nemesis, a high-powered publishing executive who is trying to take over the rights completely, and sparks fly in more ways than one. 🙂

The plan is that these stories will be released in early 2017, although it could be sooner if I start hearing that there’s a lot of interest. (I always take fan requests into account as I build out my production schedule.)

Be sure you’re signed up for my Fan Club to stay up to date on all the latest news and notes from me.

The release of Grounded By You is just around the corner, and I’ve shared a few teasers with fans of my Facebook page this past week. Here’s the latest teaser to whet your whistle, and look for news on when it is available very soon. 🙂

“I can’t explain why I acted the way I did at the end of last summer. It won’t make any sense, and it won’t make it better or change what happened,” Millie whispered. She was afraid then that he was going to tell her to go to hell. That his reappearance in her life had been just a way of him finding the right way to strike back at her for being such a bitch. “It was wrong, and I’m sorry. But what I’m really sorry for is that I didn’t say goodbye.”

Instead, he sighed, and one of his hands came up to wipe the tears on her cheek away. “I am sorry too, Millie. There were a lot of things that were left unsaid between us. I figured you knew that, and maybe wanted to save me from embarrassing myself. I kept thinking that I did something to push you away.”

She bit her lower lip, uncertain what to say next. She saw that his eyes drifted down to her mouth as she did it, and her heart sped up. Millie had been with her fair share of men, but this was different. There was something strangely intimate about that moment that she had never remembered feeling with a man before. When Sam looked at her, she knew that he saw her for who she was, not just some pretty face, or a person who carried the St. John name. She appreciated that more than she could ever tell him.

Millie reached a hesitant hand up and brushed a stray piece of hair off of his forehead. When he turned his cheek into her hand and closed his eyes, she knew that everything she thought was happening the previous summer was real. A year ago, she ran from those feelings because she was too scared to deal with them. Now, she was afraid that if she did run away, she’d regret it the rest of her life.

His lips pressed gently against the palm of her hand sending a tiny chill down her spine. Then his eyes opened, and his gaze blazed down on her. Goosebumps broke out across her arms as she read the emotions that she saw there. Desire. Passion. Maybe something more.

His arm pulled her closer to him, and she could feel the heat from his body through her clothes. Her breath hitched as his fingers swept down her cheek and traced the outline of her lips.

“You had a lip gloss that you’d wear on the nights when you’d help me in the dining room. It smelled like peaches and mangos, and it made your lips shine in the candlelight. I noticed them every time you’d smile at me,” Sam said. His voice was low and husky. “I must have wondered a million times what it would be like to kiss them. I watched you hoping that one day, you’d look at me in a way that told me you wanted me to kiss you.”

Millie flushed at Sam’s words. She tried to look away, but Sam’s hand cupped her chin and brought her eyes back to his. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you want me to kiss you right now.”

Her breath became shallower at the intensity of his tone. She understood what he was asking and why he was asking. She was the one who ran away from him. She was the one who rejected him and everything that he had given her over the course of the summer. Sam wasn’t a taker, and she always knew that.

He was asking her permission to take this though.

She slid her arms up around his neck. “I’ll go find the lip gloss if you want,” she said with a shy grin. When Sam’s head lowered, his lips claimed hers with a low growl, and the rest of Millie’s thoughts were swept away.

~~~~~ end of teaser from the DRAFT version — final published version may change.

Where My Heart Breaks is available for purchase at all the major retailers (Apple coming soon). Buy links are below. As a special “Thank You” to all my readers (old and new), you can snag your copy of the ebook for $0.99. The new release pricing runs through September 29th, 2013.

I want to give a special shout-out to my beta readers, Audi and Lisa!! I couldn’t have done it without you beautiful ladies. 🙂

You probably read this post’s title and had a completely different idea of what I was going to talk about, being a romance writer and all. 😉 But actually, I wanted to share a little bit about the story I’m working on now and how it’s different from almost everything I’ve written before, which is cool and scary all at the same time.

I had the idea for for this story before I even finished writing Bittersweet Junction. I’ve got a thing for big, old houses. The picture at the top of this post appeared in the corner of the calendar for June above my desk. I couldn’t stop staring at it and that’s always the red flag in my mind that there’s a story there. And so Where My Heart Breaks was born. I somehow managed to keep focused on my final edits for Bittersweet Junction, which was a good thing because when a story idea grips me it’s pretty hard to tear myself away.

Where My Heart Breaks is going to be told from a single point of view (POV) which is a pretty significant departure for me from my usual method of storytelling. Out of the twenty-odd stories I’ve published to date (I also write paranormal fiction under another pen name) only one, My Heart to Rescue, is also a single POV story. That makes this whole endeavor a bit unsettling. Events are unfolding in front of me and I’m finding out about all sorts of things right along with Kate, my heroine.

The logical question is why would I decide to write from a single POV if I’m obviously so comfortable (and enjoy) dual POVs stories? It took me awhile to figure that one out myself. In the end, the answer was simple. When we fall in love in real life, we don’t know what the object of our desire is thinking about. We fly blind hoping that the things we do or say will eventually pull them into our orbit and convince them to stay. But there is a big unknown.

When you see both sides of the story, it makes you feel a bit more settled as a reader (and as a writer too). I wanted to strip that level of comfort away and push myself to really remember what it felt like to fall for someone with no idea if it was going to be reciprocated. I am delving into Kate and her emotions and feelings at a deeper level than I could if I was telling the story from both sides. Even now, halfway through the first draft, Kate’s love interest Reed is still a bit of an enigma to me, but the connection that is developing between him and Kate is exciting to watch nonetheless.

As I ride the roller coaster down the other side, approaching the end of this story, I’m holding on and enjoying the ride, just like Kate. Hopefully my future readers will find it just as satisfying as well.